Elections win a mandate for 'important' policy shifts: Japanese Premier Takaichi

Japan held snap elections on Sunday, giving Takaichi’s LDP a two-thirds majority, for the first time in the post-war era, in the lower chamber of the parliament.

The 64-year-old premier, Japan’s first female prime minister, said her government was also seeking to “amend” the war-renouncing constitution, Kyodo News reported.

On the economy, Takaichi told a news conference that Japan “needs to depart from its excessive fiscal austerity.”

The prime minister also sought support from opposition parties as the LDP remains a minority in the upper house of the parliament.

While she has said the budget deliberations would be a priority in her new term, Takaichi vowed to proceed with parliamentary discussions on a two-year consumption tax break on food items.

A Conservative politician, Takaichi has sought to revise Japan’s three documents on security and defense.

With LDP crossing the two-thirds majority in the lower house of the parliament at 315 seats, it will have the support of 351 lawmakers along with its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party.

The super-majority allows the LDP to pass any bills through the parliament even if the opposition objects in the upper house.

Takaichi was elected last October, after becoming the first female president of the LDP, and called for snap elections last month, riding over her personal popularity in the country, mostly dominated by men in politics.